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But one night, a nightmare he had thought long forgotten, threatens to destroy everything he fought so hard for.", "count": "3", "submission_left_submission_id": "2921037", "submission_left_file_name": "4352253_Sundayeyes_bell_flowers_2_chap_1.doc", "submission_right_submission_id": "3016401", "submission_right_file_name": "4510562_Sundayeyes_bell_flowers_2_chap_3.doc" } ], "description": "Michelangelo finally has everything he's ever dreamed of. A family, true love and a place he can proudly call home.\n\nBut one night, a nightmare shakes loose a memory he has thought long forgotten, one that puts his precious new family in danger and sets off a chain of events that threatens to destroy everything he fought so hard for.\n\nAlternate Universe, AU\nPairings: Leonardo/Michelangelo, Raphael/Donatello\n\n~*~*~*~\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/s/2921037]<--- Chapter One[/url] __//__ [url=https://inkbunny.net/s/3016401]Chapter Three --->[/url]\n~*~*~*~", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Michelangelo finally has everything he's ever dreamed of. A family, true love and a place he can proudly call home.

But one night, a nightmare shakes loose a memory he has thought long forgotten, one that puts his precious new family in danger and sets off a chain of events that threatens to destroy everything he fought so hard for.

Alternate Universe, AU
Pairings: Leonardo/Michelangelo, Raphael/Donatello

~*~*~*~
<--- Chapter One __//__ Chapter Three --->
~*~*~*~", "writing": "[center]~*~*~*~\n\nChapter Two: A dream is a wish... or a curse...\n\n~*~*~*~[/center]\n\nFrigid air hit Michelangelo in the face with all the force of a winter storm. The sudden gale froze the thick fog surrounding him into tiny shards that pricked his bare skin. He wished he had a jacket or a robe, and wondered where his boots had disappeared too, but as he turned to look, he quickly realized it wasn't the chill that was making him shiver.\n\nThere was a whisper on the wind, low and ominous. It itched inside his ear, vibrated deep in his chest, and no matter how hard he strained to hear through the dead air pressing against his exposed flesh, he couldn't quite make out the words. The voice sounded so familiar, but it was not at all comforting. It awakened an old fear buried in the deepest parts of his mind. He shivered again.\n\n[i]``Who's there?''[/i] Mikey called out, but the mist swallowed the sound. He couldn't put a name to what he thought might happen if the voice were to come closer, but instinctively he knew it wouldn't be good and he braced himself, his breath coming in short huffs, gooseflesh rising along his arms.\n\nHe wanted to run, but an unseen force held him in place. The impenetrable fog. The oppressive cold. He couldn't move. He couldn't think. He opened his mouth to scream, spinning in place as he tried to draw in a breath... and caught a fleeting glimpse of a shadow slipping away into the haze. Fuzzy and dark, the only color in a sea of white. Gone in an instant.\n\nThe salty, tangy smell of the ocean filled his nose, reminding him of a different day, years ago, near the coast. The shop owner had chased him all the way to the shore before losing him in the fog, never knowing that Mikey had already eaten the pilfered mince pie as he ran.\n\nA gull cried somewhere high above his head, pulling his attention to the sky. Mikey looked up and flinched, blinded by a blazing yellow beam of light. He squeezed his eyes so tightly shut they started to ache and turned his head away from the offending color, but the yellow glow was relentless, filled all his senses, left him deaf and blind, floating, spinning... numb.\n\nA second passed, two, three... but there was only the light.\n\nStrange sounds persisted through the thick silence. The tilling of earth, a spade scraping through dirt and rock as crickets buzzed in the heat of midday. The low rumble of conversation pierced by laughter and the clanks of old steins splashing cheap drink across faded wooden tables. The sharp cry of a tiny babe, almost loud enough to drown out the agonizing sobs of its mother.\n\nThe sounds grew louder and louder, a cacophony beating against his eardrums. Mikey slammed his hands up over his ears, but it wasn't enough, the noise filled him until his eyes began to water and he felt like his lungs would burst. Desperate to escape, he forced one eye open... and abruptly the noise ceased, leaving nothing but a throbbing dull emptiness behind in the silence. The blinding light and cloying mist was gone, disappeared, replaced by an inky blackness.\n\nStraining to see in the dark and faking a bravery he certainly didn't feel, Michelangelo stepped forward and felt plush carpet beneath his bare toes. How could there be carpet outside in the mist? Or was the mist on the inside, invisible in the black.\n\nHe swallowed and took another step... then another... then another. As he advanced the barest hint of light began to reveal his surroundings. It came from nowhere, as if the air itself was projecting the glow, and before long an unfamiliar hallway stretched out before him.\n\nFurnishings and other decorations slowly appeared. Benches and cabinets made from rich mahogany lined the walls. Statues with no faces loomed over him, laying down judgements only they could comprehend as he passed.\n\nThe sounds of fighting could be heard coming from just beyond the walls, perhaps a simple skirmish or maybe a great war, it was impossible to tell. The clash of metal and the screams of dying men came muffled to his ears, but in the hallway Mikey was alone. He picked up his pace, quickening to a trot, searching for a window or a door, anything that would let him see out and find the source of the battle... but the walls remained smooth and bare.\n\nThe longer he went without finding an exit, the more the walls around him started to close in, pressing in at his shoulders, constricting his movement. Doing his best to ignore his growing panic, Mikey began to run, his feet pounding the carpet like a low drum beat, until [i]finally[/i] a door materialized out of the shadows, set into the wall directly in front of him. Something about it was familiar, but why or from where, he had no idea, and that alone was enough to send a chill down his spine. Cautious, but also just a little curious, he reached for the handle, somehow sensing the answers he sought were waiting for him just on the other side.\n\nAs he touched the cool metal, the same yellow light from before began to shine thin lines around the edges of the wood. Opening the door, he was blinded by it, but only for a second before a figure stepped through. Mikey raised his arm to block the light, squinting to see, and saw her as she sauntered forward. Average height, thin but muscular build, raven black hair barely brushing over the slope of her shoulders.\n\nFlashes of memory rocked him to his core, and he reeled, stumbled back a step, tried [i]-failed-[/i] to swallow down the fear and bile rising in his throat.\n\nHe didn't want to remember that harsh winter, so many years ago, that had forced him to seek shelter anywhere that would save him from freezing to death out on the streets. He had needed the warmth, but more than that, he'd also wanted companionship... a place to belong. The Foot Clan offered those things to him, though he didn't know at the time what the Foot Clan truly was.\n\nShe had made him feel wanted, needed. She had taken him in and earned his trust. In the end, her betrayal cut deeper than even the sharpest blade. At the time, he'd believed he might have preferred the blade.\n\n[i]``You were never good enough for us...''[/i] Karai hissed. [i]``You were nothing more than a tool to be discarded when I no longer found you useful.''[/i]\n\nMichelangelo flinched, tried to shut out the words as his eyes darted down to the large, dusty tome she held clutched in her arms. He recognized the book... it was the one she had stolen from the nobleman's house the night she cast him aside. Embossed on the front, in the same leather that bound the book, he could just make out a circle, the center filled with swirled lines... lines, like the ribbons of his filigree. A large jewel set directly in the center blazed with a ghostly light. Daring to look up at her again, he struggled to take in air.\n\n[i]``Sorry, kid.''[/i] She said with no remorse and a hollow, grating laugh bubbled up from behind her teeth.\n\nThe sound fractured in Mikey's ears and sent him spinning, his heels dragging along the carpet as he backed away. The yellow light, brighter than the sun, flared... and they were consumed by it. \n\nSomething, [i]someone[/i], slammed against his shell and a thick arm curled around his neck. Mikey thrashed, but it was useless, the attacker held him firm. More hands came out of the light. They grabbed his arms, twisting them back and down until he was bent back so far he couldn't breathe.\n\nHer terrible laugh and the sounds of battle faded away, replaced by the low murmur of a gathered crowd. The light splintered, slowly coalescing into the crisp light of morning. As his unseen assailants dragged him forward, Mikey was finally able to see where they were taking him...\n\n[i]No. NO! Not again... not this...[/i]\n\nThe village around him came into focus and the people solidified, their mocking faces swimming around him in a blur. He couldn't hold back a quiet, pathetic wail as the dais in the town square came into view. The wooden structure loomed ahead of him, he could already feel it closing around his neck and wrists, could feel the cold bite of the chains digging into his skin. Long repressed feelings of isolation and loneliness filled him with overwhelming dread, and he sagged in the arms holding him upright... but they didn't care, they just kept pushing him ever on.\n\n[i]``...Strength comes from more than just our muscles and our skill, Mikey. The heart of it lies in the courage of our convictions...''[/i]\n\n[i]Leo? Leo![/i]\n\nThe whispered voice came from all around him. His precious love, [i]his[/i] Leonardo. Once Michelangelo had been weak, lost, and alone... but not anymore. He had come so far, Leo had taught him so much, not just about himself, but also the world and his place within it.\n\n[i]No![/i] Never again would he allow himself to be caught or caged. He was strong now. Strong enough to save himself.\n\nHeaving his body upright Mikey planted his feet and bent forward at the waist, throwing the men that held him off balance. The two holding his arms lost their grip as the one still circling his neck fell to the side. Twisting low, Mikey ducked and spun and pushed them away, swinging his leg around in a wide arc to send them crashing to the ground... just like Leo had shown him how.\n\nDenied the spectacle of his imprisonment, the gathered crowd roared with anger, yelled insults, threw objects that hit him in the face and neck, but Mikey ignored them all. He dodged their grabbing hands, danced back and forth and back again, and ran as fast as his feet would carry him.\n\nStep after step after step, the town disappeared behind as a jagged, black forest rose ahead, thicker and higher until it was all Mikey could see. Apprehension filled him, claustrophobic and foreboding, but there was no turning back. Steeling himself, he plunged into the trees and a deafening silence fell over him like the weight of a heavy blanket.\n\nAn instinctual fear roiled deep in his gut... he wasn't alone... he could sense them, in the shadows, chasing him [i]-hunting-[/i] him. They were silent, not a single thump or crack to give themselves away, but he could feel the change in pressure where their bodies displaced the air... and they were drawing closer with every hurried step.\n\nHow had they caught up so fast? It didn't matter, they were there, and Mikey had to lose them. He ran, and he searched for a path, a clearing, a way out. He ran until his lungs started to burn, until his vision went fuzzy at the edges, until he was sure he'd gone as far as he could go. One more step and he was going to collapse from the exertion.\n\nHe didn't see the ancient root thrust upward out of the earth until it was too late. It caught his feet and threw him to the ground through a break in the trees. There was nothing he could do to save himself as he fell. The damned yellow light, relentless in its torment, held him paralyzed and his knees bit into the earth with a piercing crack. He grimaced through the pain, held his breath, and waited for the inevitable bite of cold steel...\n\nNothing...\n\nBarely daring to hope, Mikey opened his eyes, and a rock dropped in his stomach. He didn't know where he was, but he knew it was somewhere he did not want to be.\n\nPale sunlight, discolored by a haze of smoke and soot, cast a red glow over the world. Wispy tendrils of floating embers danced across his vision and the acrid stench of death hung heavy in the air. Everywhere he looked, there was nothing but destruction...\n\nHe wanted to turn back, to find a different path rather than face what was in front of him... but that would mean giving in to his fear. There was a time when he would have, not so long ago, but Leonardo had taught him that he didn't need to be afraid. That he was stronger than fear.\n\nMichelangelo moved forward into the desolate ruin that was once a bustling village.\n\nWhere were the people that had called this place home? [i]Who[/i] were they? What could have possibly happened to have caused this terrible tragedy? No one... not a single soul... deserved to die like this...\n\n[i]``Hello? ... Is anyone there?''[/i] No answer... no people, no animals... just the hollow, empty wind.\n\nThe need to search pulled him deeper into the gloom. There must be something, someone left for him to save. He moved through the smoldering remnants of buildings and stalls, ears straining for the smallest sound. The muffled screech of a bird reached his ears. ...wait... not a bird... the ghost of a sound, barely audible through the smoke. A haunted whisper, a whine, a whimper... the bleat of a lonely babe calling for its mother...\n\n[b][i]CRACK![/i][/b]\n\nStone crashing against stone echoed through the remains of the village, but Mikey didn't react to the sound, he simply turned his head and watched the last of a burnt-out building collapse into itself. If anyone had come along to ask, he wouldn't have been able to say if the tears in his eyes were caused by the smoke or the despair he felt knowing there was nothing he could have done to save those that lived here.\n\nThe steady dripping of water came from somewhere to his right and he followed the sound. Through the swirling smoke a wall appeared, charred and warped, the only remaining part of the village tavern. A strange light began to shine at the back corner where a single, solitary barrel, used for catching and storing rainwater, had somehow survived the massacre completely unscathed.\n\nHe was drawn to the oscillating glow, radiant green in the sea of gloomy red. The water inside the barrel came up all the way to the brim, and with his heart drumming a rapid beat in his throat Mikey gripped the sun-bleached wood and leaned over the surface. Jagged splinters pricked the skin of his fingers as he searched for the source of the pulsing green light.\n\nHe froze where he stood, stunned to see the reflected face staring back up at him was not his own.\n\nA black hood cast deep shadows across her mossy green face and ripples in the water distorted her reflection, but he could still make out enough of her features to know she was young, maybe even younger than he was now. For long minutes she stared up at him and he stared back at her. A desperate need to protect her rose up in him as he looked down into her eyes, her pupils blown wide with fear, her chest rising and falling with short, ragged gasps. Had she been running? From what? From who?! He had to get to her, tried to call out to ask her where she was... but his lips wouldn't move. He could only hold her piercing gaze...\n\nEventually she calmed. Her shoulders squared and her chin came up and he saw the moment her fear drained away, only to be replaced by a fierce determination. Whatever her mission was, he had no doubt she was ready to see it through. She looked like she would spit in the face of the danger that had her so frightened only a moment before.\n\nThe strange green light began to pulse once more from somewhere deep behind her irises. Entranced, Mikey leaned closer... her face was [i]so[/i] familiar... like a long-forgotten dream...\n\nSomething fell from the neckline of her... no [i]-their-[/i], tunic. He could feel the chain digging into the back of his neck as it swung in an arc across the surface of the water. His heart began to pound, there could be no mistaking the swirled circles... the large, flashy jewel... He moved to grab it, but no matter how hard he tried, the amulet seemed to push away from his reaching fingers of its own accord. In a blur it spun, faster and faster, heavier and heavier, until finally he was pulled forward, off his feet, head first, down... down into the barrel of water.\n\nThe yellow light consumed him once again as he tumbled head over feet, suspended, afloat, unable to tell up from down. Warmth enveloped him and through the iridescence her eyes followed, brightly green and vibrant with life. He knew those eyes, would recognize them from a thousand yards away... but... his memory of them shows him a different face... older, with the dullness of age wrinkling her skin.\n\nThe revelation was startling, but any fear Mikey may have felt quickly dissipated as a familiar song joined him in the light. Her voice filled him with happiness and comfort, and he eagerly surrendered to its pull, allowing the light to carry him until gravity began pulling at his bones. The ground, suddenly solid beneath his knees, unrolled away from him like parchment and he settled back on his heels. Squinting into the light he blinked, and she appeared.\n\nBright morning sunlight, filtered through the branches of an ancient sycamore, formed a halo behind her head and leafy shadows danced between them, like reflections on a forest pool. Tears stung behind his eyelids as he gazed up at the vision of her looming over him. His grandmother, just as he remembered from when he was very small. He recalled every detail of her perfect face as if they had only been parted for a single day.\n\nHer song, the one he knew so well, filled his ears and she smiled as she sang, reaching forward to run her thumb lovingly across his cheek. Mikey could feel his excitement bubbling up until he was fidgeting and bouncing on his knees. Mischief sparkled in her beautiful green eyes as she pulled back her shawl and revealed something nestled on her lap.\n\nIt was a simple box, plain tin, gray and unassuming, but to Mikey it may as well have been jewel encrusted gold. He held his breath, his eyes open wide with anticipation, as her fingers gripped the edge of the lid and pulled...\n\n...Michelangelo's eyes shot open, momentarily blind in the pitch-dark room. For a split second he couldn't breathe, and he had to force himself to swallow around the lump in his throat. He might have given in to the sudden panic welling up in his chest, if the comforting weight of Leonardo's arm draped over his plastron wasn't there to hold it at bay. He felt heavy and numb, like he was sinking in deep water. It was all he could do to take one careful breath after another as the room around him slowly started to solidify.\n\nIt was a dream... it was only a dream... the remnants were slipping away into the dark, as ethereal as the sliver of moonlight coming from between the window curtains.\n\nUnbidden, tears began to fall freely from the corners of his eyes.\n\nShe had been so real... he could have reached out and touched her... he hadn't even thought to... why...?\n\nA pain that he hadn't felt for twenty years constricted his throat. He gasped and sat up, Leo's arm and the blanket covering them falling into his lap. This wasn't the first time he'd dreamed of his grandmother... but something about this dream had been different. She... no, all of it... had been so vivid, he remembered every moment as if it had been real. \n\nBut that was the thing... it [i]had[/i] been real... most of it anyway. The memories replayed in his mind just like they had happened yesterday. The shadows of their bedroom shifted, and he pressed the heels of his hands firmly into his eyes, but the tears kept coming and he couldn't hold back a quiet sob. The light, the tree, the earth beneath his knees, he remembered... he remembered that day...\n\n``Mmm... Mikey?'' Leonardo stirred and Mikey quickly tried to brush away his tears, but Leo had never been so easily fooled, especially when it came to Michelangelo and the heart he always wore so blatantly in his sleeve. In an instant Leo was pulling him close, safe against the solid warmth of his plastron. ``Hey, shhh... what is it? What's wrong?''\n\nIt was such a simple question, born from love and genuine concern and Mikey choked on another sob. Lord Hamato was still warm in his grave, Leo was still deeply grieving the loss, and here Mikey was waking him up out of a healing sleep with tears he could barely explain to himself, let alone anyone else.\n\n``Hey,'' Leo murmured, gently smoothing a hand up and down Mikey's shell. ``It's alright. You've been so strong for me through all of this, and I know it was for my benefit, but you loved him too. You need to grieve just as much as any of us. Let it out... I'm here... I've got you.''\n\nSelfless Leonardo, always giving of himself for others, never accepting anything for himself. Mikey knew he should stop being foolish, that now wasn't the time, not when Leo needed him so much. But... there was no stopping the tears now that they had started. He hiccuped, and squeezed Leo tighter, and buried his face in Leo's neck... and [i]cried[/i]. \n\nHe cried for everything that he'd ever lost. He cried for his beloved grandmother, for the people his parents should have been and never were. He cried for the lost boy he used to be, and all the desperation and longing and unfulfilled desire he'd felt before finding himself in the safe haven of Leonardo's love. He cried for the man who could have been the only father he had ever known, if only they'd had more time...\n\nThrough it all Leo held him, rocked him, kissed his skin, whispered words of love and encouragement that Mikey couldn't hear through his sobs, but the intent of the words, the cadence of his voice, was what Mikey needed the most in that moment and eventually, when he was finally wrung out and exhausted, his tears slowed to little more than a trickle.\n\nOnly then did the fog of confusion begin to clear in Mikey's mind, the events of his dream became stills that he could more objectively review one by one, and as he thought about them small details he hadn't picked up on before started to solidify.\n\nHe had only been a little boy, but he remembered the tree and the day his grandmother sat with him there. They had shared a loaf of bread smothered in butter and honey, then she sang to him her beautiful song while he helped her dig a hole at the very base of the tree, hidden out of sight between two of its massive roots. When that job was done, she turned to reveal a small metal box on her lap, and when she opened it...\n\nMichelangelo sucked in a long, deep breath and slowly sat up, searching for Leo's eyes in the dark with a look of incredulous wonder on his face.\n\n``The amulet...'' He whispered, so softly he wasn't sure he'd spoken out loud.\n\nFor a moment Leonardo simply frowned, then he recalled their earlier conversation and shook his head with an amused chuckle. ``The... Amulet of Antilla? What about it...?''\n\nMikey knew it was a totally random thing to suddenly blurt out in the middle of the night, and normally he would have laughed right along with Leo about it. But this was one of those rare moments where Michelangelo couldn't even manage a lighthearted giggle. He needed Leo to understand what the dream had revealed. He had no idea [i]why[/i] it was true or [i]how[/i] it could have possibly come to be, but there was not a single doubt in his mind that this long-forgotten memory was as tangible and real as the ribbons of blue and orange shining softly on their skin.\n\nMichelangelo licked his lips and this time when he spoke, his words were strong and clear. ``Leo... I know where it is.''\n\n[center]~*~*~*~\ntbc...[/center]", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "
~*~*~*~

Chapter Two: A dream is a wish... or a curse...

~*~*~*~


Frigid air hit Michelangelo in the face with all the force of a winter storm. The sudden gale froze the thick fog surrounding him into tiny shards that pricked his bare skin. He wished he had a jacket or a robe, and wondered where his boots had disappeared too, but as he turned to look, he quickly realized it wasn't the chill that was making him shiver.

There was a whisper on the wind, low and ominous. It itched inside his ear, vibrated deep in his chest, and no matter how hard he strained to hear through the dead air pressing against his exposed flesh, he couldn't quite make out the words. The voice sounded so familiar, but it was not at all comforting. It awakened an old fear buried in the deepest parts of his mind. He shivered again.

``Who's there?'' Mikey called out, but the mist swallowed the sound. He couldn't put a name to what he thought might happen if the voice were to come closer, but instinctively he knew it wouldn't be good and he braced himself, his breath coming in short huffs, gooseflesh rising along his arms.

He wanted to run, but an unseen force held him in place. The impenetrable fog. The oppressive cold. He couldn't move. He couldn't think. He opened his mouth to scream, spinning in place as he tried to draw in a breath... and caught a fleeting glimpse of a shadow slipping away into the haze. Fuzzy and dark, the only color in a sea of white. Gone in an instant.

The salty, tangy smell of the ocean filled his nose, reminding him of a different day, years ago, near the coast. The shop owner had chased him all the way to the shore before losing him in the fog, never knowing that Mikey had already eaten the pilfered mince pie as he ran.

A gull cried somewhere high above his head, pulling his attention to the sky. Mikey looked up and flinched, blinded by a blazing yellow beam of light. He squeezed his eyes so tightly shut they started to ache and turned his head away from the offending color, but the yellow glow was relentless, filled all his senses, left him deaf and blind, floating, spinning... numb.

A second passed, two, three... but there was only the light.

Strange sounds persisted through the thick silence. The tilling of earth, a spade scraping through dirt and rock as crickets buzzed in the heat of midday. The low rumble of conversation pierced by laughter and the clanks of old steins splashing cheap drink across faded wooden tables. The sharp cry of a tiny babe, almost loud enough to drown out the agonizing sobs of its mother.

The sounds grew louder and louder, a cacophony beating against his eardrums. Mikey slammed his hands up over his ears, but it wasn't enough, the noise filled him until his eyes began to water and he felt like his lungs would burst. Desperate to escape, he forced one eye open... and abruptly the noise ceased, leaving nothing but a throbbing dull emptiness behind in the silence. The blinding light and cloying mist was gone, disappeared, replaced by an inky blackness.

Straining to see in the dark and faking a bravery he certainly didn't feel, Michelangelo stepped forward and felt plush carpet beneath his bare toes. How could there be carpet outside in the mist? Or was the mist on the inside, invisible in the black.

He swallowed and took another step... then another... then another. As he advanced the barest hint of light began to reveal his surroundings. It came from nowhere, as if the air itself was projecting the glow, and before long an unfamiliar hallway stretched out before him.

Furnishings and other decorations slowly appeared. Benches and cabinets made from rich mahogany lined the walls. Statues with no faces loomed over him, laying down judgements only they could comprehend as he passed.

The sounds of fighting could be heard coming from just beyond the walls, perhaps a simple skirmish or maybe a great war, it was impossible to tell. The clash of metal and the screams of dying men came muffled to his ears, but in the hallway Mikey was alone. He picked up his pace, quickening to a trot, searching for a window or a door, anything that would let him see out and find the source of the battle... but the walls remained smooth and bare.

The longer he went without finding an exit, the more the walls around him started to close in, pressing in at his shoulders, constricting his movement. Doing his best to ignore his growing panic, Mikey began to run, his feet pounding the carpet like a low drum beat, until finally a door materialized out of the shadows, set into the wall directly in front of him. Something about it was familiar, but why or from where, he had no idea, and that alone was enough to send a chill down his spine. Cautious, but also just a little curious, he reached for the handle, somehow sensing the answers he sought were waiting for him just on the other side.

As he touched the cool metal, the same yellow light from before began to shine thin lines around the edges of the wood. Opening the door, he was blinded by it, but only for a second before a figure stepped through. Mikey raised his arm to block the light, squinting to see, and saw her as she sauntered forward. Average height, thin but muscular build, raven black hair barely brushing over the slope of her shoulders.

Flashes of memory rocked him to his core, and he reeled, stumbled back a step, tried -failed- to swallow down the fear and bile rising in his throat.

He didn't want to remember that harsh winter, so many years ago, that had forced him to seek shelter anywhere that would save him from freezing to death out on the streets. He had needed the warmth, but more than that, he'd also wanted companionship... a place to belong. The Foot Clan offered those things to him, though he didn't know at the time what the Foot Clan truly was.

She had made him feel wanted, needed. She had taken him in and earned his trust. In the end, her betrayal cut deeper than even the sharpest blade. At the time, he'd believed he might have preferred the blade.

``You were never good enough for us...'' Karai hissed. ``You were nothing more than a tool to be discarded when I no longer found you useful.''

Michelangelo flinched, tried to shut out the words as his eyes darted down to the large, dusty tome she held clutched in her arms. He recognized the book... it was the one she had stolen from the nobleman's house the night she cast him aside. Embossed on the front, in the same leather that bound the book, he could just make out a circle, the center filled with swirled lines... lines, like the ribbons of his filigree. A large jewel set directly in the center blazed with a ghostly light. Daring to look up at her again, he struggled to take in air.

``Sorry, kid.'' She said with no remorse and a hollow, grating laugh bubbled up from behind her teeth.

The sound fractured in Mikey's ears and sent him spinning, his heels dragging along the carpet as he backed away. The yellow light, brighter than the sun, flared... and they were consumed by it.

Something, someone, slammed against his shell and a thick arm curled around his neck. Mikey thrashed, but it was useless, the attacker held him firm. More hands came out of the light. They grabbed his arms, twisting them back and down until he was bent back so far he couldn't breathe.

Her terrible laugh and the sounds of battle faded away, replaced by the low murmur of a gathered crowd. The light splintered, slowly coalescing into the crisp light of morning. As his unseen assailants dragged him forward, Mikey was finally able to see where they were taking him...

No. NO! Not again... not this...

The village around him came into focus and the people solidified, their mocking faces swimming around him in a blur. He couldn't hold back a quiet, pathetic wail as the dais in the town square came into view. The wooden structure loomed ahead of him, he could already feel it closing around his neck and wrists, could feel the cold bite of the chains digging into his skin. Long repressed feelings of isolation and loneliness filled him with overwhelming dread, and he sagged in the arms holding him upright... but they didn't care, they just kept pushing him ever on.

``...Strength comes from more than just our muscles and our skill, Mikey. The heart of it lies in the courage of our convictions...''

Leo? Leo!

The whispered voice came from all around him. His precious love, his Leonardo. Once Michelangelo had been weak, lost, and alone... but not anymore. He had come so far, Leo had taught him so much, not just about himself, but also the world and his place within it.

No! Never again would he allow himself to be caught or caged. He was strong now. Strong enough to save himself.

Heaving his body upright Mikey planted his feet and bent forward at the waist, throwing the men that held him off balance. The two holding his arms lost their grip as the one still circling his neck fell to the side. Twisting low, Mikey ducked and spun and pushed them away, swinging his leg around in a wide arc to send them crashing to the ground... just like Leo had shown him how.

Denied the spectacle of his imprisonment, the gathered crowd roared with anger, yelled insults, threw objects that hit him in the face and neck, but Mikey ignored them all. He dodged their grabbing hands, danced back and forth and back again, and ran as fast as his feet would carry him.

Step after step after step, the town disappeared behind as a jagged, black forest rose ahead, thicker and higher until it was all Mikey could see. Apprehension filled him, claustrophobic and foreboding, but there was no turning back. Steeling himself, he plunged into the trees and a deafening silence fell over him like the weight of a heavy blanket.

An instinctual fear roiled deep in his gut... he wasn't alone... he could sense them, in the shadows, chasing him -hunting- him. They were silent, not a single thump or crack to give themselves away, but he could feel the change in pressure where their bodies displaced the air... and they were drawing closer with every hurried step.

How had they caught up so fast? It didn't matter, they were there, and Mikey had to lose them. He ran, and he searched for a path, a clearing, a way out. He ran until his lungs started to burn, until his vision went fuzzy at the edges, until he was sure he'd gone as far as he could go. One more step and he was going to collapse from the exertion.

He didn't see the ancient root thrust upward out of the earth until it was too late. It caught his feet and threw him to the ground through a break in the trees. There was nothing he could do to save himself as he fell. The damned yellow light, relentless in its torment, held him paralyzed and his knees bit into the earth with a piercing crack. He grimaced through the pain, held his breath, and waited for the inevitable bite of cold steel...

Nothing...

Barely daring to hope, Mikey opened his eyes, and a rock dropped in his stomach. He didn't know where he was, but he knew it was somewhere he did not want to be.

Pale sunlight, discolored by a haze of smoke and soot, cast a red glow over the world. Wispy tendrils of floating embers danced across his vision and the acrid stench of death hung heavy in the air. Everywhere he looked, there was nothing but destruction...

He wanted to turn back, to find a different path rather than face what was in front of him... but that would mean giving in to his fear. There was a time when he would have, not so long ago, but Leonardo had taught him that he didn't need to be afraid. That he was stronger than fear.

Michelangelo moved forward into the desolate ruin that was once a bustling village.

Where were the people that had called this place home? Who were they? What could have possibly happened to have caused this terrible tragedy? No one... not a single soul... deserved to die like this...

``Hello? ... Is anyone there?'' No answer... no people, no animals... just the hollow, empty wind.

The need to search pulled him deeper into the gloom. There must be something, someone left for him to save. He moved through the smoldering remnants of buildings and stalls, ears straining for the smallest sound. The muffled screech of a bird reached his ears. ...wait... not a bird... the ghost of a sound, barely audible through the smoke. A haunted whisper, a whine, a whimper... the bleat of a lonely babe calling for its mother...

CRACK!

Stone crashing against stone echoed through the remains of the village, but Mikey didn't react to the sound, he simply turned his head and watched the last of a burnt-out building collapse into itself. If anyone had come along to ask, he wouldn't have been able to say if the tears in his eyes were caused by the smoke or the despair he felt knowing there was nothing he could have done to save those that lived here.

The steady dripping of water came from somewhere to his right and he followed the sound. Through the swirling smoke a wall appeared, charred and warped, the only remaining part of the village tavern. A strange light began to shine at the back corner where a single, solitary barrel, used for catching and storing rainwater, had somehow survived the massacre completely unscathed.

He was drawn to the oscillating glow, radiant green in the sea of gloomy red. The water inside the barrel came up all the way to the brim, and with his heart drumming a rapid beat in his throat Mikey gripped the sun-bleached wood and leaned over the surface. Jagged splinters pricked the skin of his fingers as he searched for the source of the pulsing green light.

He froze where he stood, stunned to see the reflected face staring back up at him was not his own.

A black hood cast deep shadows across her mossy green face and ripples in the water distorted her reflection, but he could still make out enough of her features to know she was young, maybe even younger than he was now. For long minutes she stared up at him and he stared back at her. A desperate need to protect her rose up in him as he looked down into her eyes, her pupils blown wide with fear, her chest rising and falling with short, ragged gasps. Had she been running? From what? From who?! He had to get to her, tried to call out to ask her where she was... but his lips wouldn't move. He could only hold her piercing gaze...

Eventually she calmed. Her shoulders squared and her chin came up and he saw the moment her fear drained away, only to be replaced by a fierce determination. Whatever her mission was, he had no doubt she was ready to see it through. She looked like she would spit in the face of the danger that had her so frightened only a moment before.

The strange green light began to pulse once more from somewhere deep behind her irises. Entranced, Mikey leaned closer... her face was so familiar... like a long-forgotten dream...

Something fell from the neckline of her... no -their-, tunic. He could feel the chain digging into the back of his neck as it swung in an arc across the surface of the water. His heart began to pound, there could be no mistaking the swirled circles... the large, flashy jewel... He moved to grab it, but no matter how hard he tried, the amulet seemed to push away from his reaching fingers of its own accord. In a blur it spun, faster and faster, heavier and heavier, until finally he was pulled forward, off his feet, head first, down... down into the barrel of water.

The yellow light consumed him once again as he tumbled head over feet, suspended, afloat, unable to tell up from down. Warmth enveloped him and through the iridescence her eyes followed, brightly green and vibrant with life. He knew those eyes, would recognize them from a thousand yards away... but... his memory of them shows him a different face... older, with the dullness of age wrinkling her skin.

The revelation was startling, but any fear Mikey may have felt quickly dissipated as a familiar song joined him in the light. Her voice filled him with happiness and comfort, and he eagerly surrendered to its pull, allowing the light to carry him until gravity began pulling at his bones. The ground, suddenly solid beneath his knees, unrolled away from him like parchment and he settled back on his heels. Squinting into the light he blinked, and she appeared.

Bright morning sunlight, filtered through the branches of an ancient sycamore, formed a halo behind her head and leafy shadows danced between them, like reflections on a forest pool. Tears stung behind his eyelids as he gazed up at the vision of her looming over him. His grandmother, just as he remembered from when he was very small. He recalled every detail of her perfect face as if they had only been parted for a single day.

Her song, the one he knew so well, filled his ears and she smiled as she sang, reaching forward to run her thumb lovingly across his cheek. Mikey could feel his excitement bubbling up until he was fidgeting and bouncing on his knees. Mischief sparkled in her beautiful green eyes as she pulled back her shawl and revealed something nestled on her lap.

It was a simple box, plain tin, gray and unassuming, but to Mikey it may as well have been jewel encrusted gold. He held his breath, his eyes open wide with anticipation, as her fingers gripped the edge of the lid and pulled...

...Michelangelo's eyes shot open, momentarily blind in the pitch-dark room. For a split second he couldn't breathe, and he had to force himself to swallow around the lump in his throat. He might have given in to the sudden panic welling up in his chest, if the comforting weight of Leonardo's arm draped over his plastron wasn't there to hold it at bay. He felt heavy and numb, like he was sinking in deep water. It was all he could do to take one careful breath after another as the room around him slowly started to solidify.

It was a dream... it was only a dream... the remnants were slipping away into the dark, as ethereal as the sliver of moonlight coming from between the window curtains.

Unbidden, tears began to fall freely from the corners of his eyes.

She had been so real... he could have reached out and touched her... he hadn't even thought to... why...?

A pain that he hadn't felt for twenty years constricted his throat. He gasped and sat up, Leo's arm and the blanket covering them falling into his lap. This wasn't the first time he'd dreamed of his grandmother... but something about this dream had been different. She... no, all of it... had been so vivid, he remembered every moment as if it had been real.

But that was the thing... it had been real... most of it anyway. The memories replayed in his mind just like they had happened yesterday. The shadows of their bedroom shifted, and he pressed the heels of his hands firmly into his eyes, but the tears kept coming and he couldn't hold back a quiet sob. The light, the tree, the earth beneath his knees, he remembered... he remembered that day...

``Mmm... Mikey?'' Leonardo stirred and Mikey quickly tried to brush away his tears, but Leo had never been so easily fooled, especially when it came to Michelangelo and the heart he always wore so blatantly in his sleeve. In an instant Leo was pulling him close, safe against the solid warmth of his plastron. ``Hey, shhh... what is it? What's wrong?''

It was such a simple question, born from love and genuine concern and Mikey choked on another sob. Lord Hamato was still warm in his grave, Leo was still deeply grieving the loss, and here Mikey was waking him up out of a healing sleep with tears he could barely explain to himself, let alone anyone else.

``Hey,'' Leo murmured, gently smoothing a hand up and down Mikey's shell. ``It's alright. You've been so strong for me through all of this, and I know it was for my benefit, but you loved him too. You need to grieve just as much as any of us. Let it out... I'm here... I've got you.''

Selfless Leonardo, always giving of himself for others, never accepting anything for himself. Mikey knew he should stop being foolish, that now wasn't the time, not when Leo needed him so much. But... there was no stopping the tears now that they had started. He hiccuped, and squeezed Leo tighter, and buried his face in Leo's neck... and cried.

He cried for everything that he'd ever lost. He cried for his beloved grandmother, for the people his parents should have been and never were. He cried for the lost boy he used to be, and all the desperation and longing and unfulfilled desire he'd felt before finding himself in the safe haven of Leonardo's love. He cried for the man who could have been the only father he had ever known, if only they'd had more time...

Through it all Leo held him, rocked him, kissed his skin, whispered words of love and encouragement that Mikey couldn't hear through his sobs, but the intent of the words, the cadence of his voice, was what Mikey needed the most in that moment and eventually, when he was finally wrung out and exhausted, his tears slowed to little more than a trickle.

Only then did the fog of confusion begin to clear in Mikey's mind, the events of his dream became stills that he could more objectively review one by one, and as he thought about them small details he hadn't picked up on before started to solidify.

He had only been a little boy, but he remembered the tree and the day his grandmother sat with him there. They had shared a loaf of bread smothered in butter and honey, then she sang to him her beautiful song while he helped her dig a hole at the very base of the tree, hidden out of sight between two of its massive roots. When that job was done, she turned to reveal a small metal box on her lap, and when she opened it...

Michelangelo sucked in a long, deep breath and slowly sat up, searching for Leo's eyes in the dark with a look of incredulous wonder on his face.

``The amulet...'' He whispered, so softly he wasn't sure he'd spoken out loud.

For a moment Leonardo simply frowned, then he recalled their earlier conversation and shook his head with an amused chuckle. ``The... Amulet of Antilla? What about it...?''

Mikey knew it was a totally random thing to suddenly blurt out in the middle of the night, and normally he would have laughed right along with Leo about it. But this was one of those rare moments where Michelangelo couldn't even manage a lighthearted giggle. He needed Leo to understand what the dream had revealed. He had no idea why it was true or how it could have possibly come to be, but there was not a single doubt in his mind that this long-forgotten memory was as tangible and real as the ribbons of blue and orange shining softly on their skin.

Michelangelo licked his lips and this time when he spoke, his words were strong and clear. ``Leo... I know where it is.''

~*~*~*~
tbc...
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